"Lord Medicine, forgive our unannounced visit with so many men. We have come to arrest Viscount Greed, who has betrayed the royal family—no, the heinous criminal Greed. Surrender quietly and submit to your bonds!"
The new captain, hastily appointed to replace the previous captain who had gone missing, stormed into the count's residence fully armed.
The count and the viscount had no idea what was going on.
Even the self-proclaimed adventurer boy who had happened to be in the room had no clue—on top of which, guards came flooding in.
The first to react was the viscount, the one branded a heinous criminal.
"You insolent lot! What have I done?!"
"Traitor Greed, you committed an act of supreme disrespect by mixing counterfeit gold coins into the taxes owed to the royal family. The evidence has already been secured. Accept your fate!"
"Preposterous! That's impossible! There must be some mistake! I don't even possess counterfeit coins!"
"The royal family is already aware that you had slaves minting counterfeit gold coins deep in the mountains of your eastern territory. How pathetic for someone of noble standing. Surrender with some dignity."
"Why—how do you know about that?!"
Because I dug it up with Perfect Research and reported it to Duke Geese.
I figured that anyone who could amass that many counterfeit coins had to have proper facilities for it somewhere.
"No! This is some kind of conspiracy! Investigate again!"
"You're awfully persistent, Viscount Greed. Well, I guess you're just a commoner now. If this experience teaches you anything, don't try paying with counterfeit coins next time."
"What the hell are you blabbering about, brat?!"
"You used counterfeit coins to pay for the Ruby Dragon at auction, didn't you? And then you tried to have the guards report me so I'd get arrested."
"You—one of Enrique's men?!"
"One of Enrique's men... Well, that's not exactly wrong."
The guard unit restrained the viscount and his entourage, binding them one after another.
"Damn it, let me go! Who do you think I am?! I am—I am a Marquis! A Marquis someone like you would never dare lay a finger on…"
◇◇◇
After the guard unit restrained Marquis Greed and hauled him away—
"You said you were Alan the adventurer? Just who are you, exactly?"
"My Lord Medicine, I'm just an adventurer. I'm also one of Greed's victims, same as you."
"…I see. It's a relief the Marquis was caught and my daughter is safe, but in the end we never got the dragon. His estate will have been searched by now—the Crown has probably already confiscated everything."
Alan took out a magic bag and handed it to the Earl.
"What's this?"
"A Ruby Dragon is inside."
"Why is it here?"
"I put it up for auction under Enrique's name, and that Greed fellow won the bid. But he tried to pay with counterfeit gold coins, so I had the auction annulled. I'd already retrieved it before that, though."
"…Even so, I can't afford 150,000 gold coins."
"No need. I've already received payment from the Marquis himself. I asked Lord Geese, and he said you were someone he could trust, so you can just have it."
The counterfeit gold coins Greed used for payment turned into real gold coins thanks to Reversal, so I've already got my 150,000 gold coins fair and square.
"Thank you!!"
Miss Annie, who had been listening nearby, threw her arms around me in a hug.
She's an alchemist, so she smelled faintly of herbs, but hey—I figured that was my perk.
Hmm. Big.
◇◇◇
I heard after that the Alchemist's Guild had gotten back on its feet financially.
After that, the Greed Marquis House was, of course, stripped of its title.
It seems the entire family was sent off to some mine as convict slaves.
Between the wretched living conditions and the brutal labor, it was effectively a death sentence.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Gentleman Thief] [Dark Magic] [Rock-Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Space-Time Magic] [Scorching Heat Magic] [Frozen Ice Magic] [Magic Hand] [Temptation] [Pain Mitigation] [Complete Status Abnormality Resistance] [Fire Spirit's Protection] [Phantom Demon] [Lightning Speed] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Uncanny Strength] [Thunder God Sword] [Strong Luck] [Clear Storm Magic] [Humility]
Rank: Silver (Alisa: Gold)
Thank you always for reading😊